SEA, Contracts and Medical Insurance Cover
What Is the MLC 2006?
The Maritime Labour Convention (MLC) is an International Labour Organization convention established in 2006, bringing together existing international maritime labour standards alongside SOLAS, STCW and MARPOL. It applies to all ships entering the harbours of party states, and to all ships flying the flag of a party state.
If you're working on a yacht with a flag state that has ratified the MLC, you have certain rights and protections — but we recommend you sign a Seafarer Employment Agreement (SEA) from the yacht confirming you're employed under this convention.
Regulation 2.1 – Seafarers' Employment Agreements
Purpose: to ensure that seafarers have a fair employment agreement.
- The terms and conditions of a seafarer's employment must be set out in a clear, written, legally enforceable agreement consistent with the Code.
- The agreement must be entered into under conditions that give the seafarer a genuine opportunity to review it and seek advice before freely accepting it.
- Where compatible with national law, the agreement should incorporate any applicable collective bargaining agreements.
Your SEA sets out the basic terms of your contract — salary, repatriation point, leave and more. You can find full details of the MLC 2006 and your rights at the ILO's official MLC page and on Wikipedia.
Make sure the yacht is offering you the minimum annual leave, currently 2.5 days per month.
Checking Your Medical Cover
Your yacht should outline what medical insurance cover they provide when you discuss your SEA, contract and salary.
1Get the full policy details — and confirm with them that your nationality/passport is covered by their policy. Some yacht medical insurance policies carry a discretionary clause affecting US, South African, Australian and New Zealand passport holders — we know of a chef who had a long fight to get medical cover and repatriation costs reimbursed after an injury in the Indian Ocean.
2Get an emergency contact card — a copy of the card or document with the emergency number on it, in case you have an accident off the yacht and need help. We know of a case where a chef tore his knee in the galley and it took four days to convince the captain to send him by private ambulance to hospital in Monaco. He ended up needing knee surgery and was repatriated home to South America after we helped the yacht manager sort things out — and we were the only ones who visited him in hospital.
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